Apparatus for measuring strand

ABSTRACT

Wire strand is fabricated and subsequently severed into measured lengths of strand at locations determined on a wire of the strand during fabrication by passing the wire between rearwardly urged tension rolls, around a measuring wheel, and between unidirectional tension rolls.

United States Patent [191 Nippert, Sr].

{ 1 March 6, 1973 APPARATUS FOR MEASURING STRAND [75] Inventor: Charles R. Nippert, Sr., Allentown,

[73] Assignee: BethlehemSteelCorporation,

Bethlehem, Pa.

[22] Filed: Aug. 13, 1970 [21] App]. No.: 63,533

Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 668,782, Sept. 19, 1967, Pat.

52 US. Cl .Q ..33/129 [51] Int. Cl..... ..G0lb 3/12, GOlb 5/04 [58] Field of Search; "33/129,132, 133, 134; 226/195, 157

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 2,654,955 10/1953 Moser ..33/l34 1,167,764 1/1916 Liebig ..226/l57 3,411,684 11/1968 Tison et a1... 226/195 3,316,648 5/1967 Klaassen ..33/14l 2,909,341 10/1959 Kingsley ..242/l51 3,239,119 3/1966 Anderson ..226/l5 7 3,180,548 4/1965 Stafford ..226/195 Primary Examiner-Leonard F orman Assistant ExaminerChar1es E. Phillips Attorney-Joseph J. OKeefe [57] ABSTRACT 2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures APPARATUS FOR MEASURING STRAND CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application is a division of application Ser. No. 668,782 filed Sept. 19, 1967, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,167.

The measuring device of the instant invention is particularly suitable for, but not limited to, use with the 1 method and apparatus for making parallel wire strand shown and described in application for US. Letters Patent Ser. No. 575,038 filed Aug. 25, 1966 by J.L.Durkee et al., now US. Pat. No. 3,526,570.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION not proved highly accurate, largely, it is believed,

because of slippage of the wires. The slippage problem has been alleviated in some cases by passing the wire completely around the periphery of a measuring wheel in order to obtain more frictional surface contact but the accuracy of such devices has still left much to be desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention provides an improved apparatus for measuring wire and strand by passing the wire about a measuring wheel arranged in combination with a constant tension rearwardly urged pair of tension rolls between which the wire initially passes, and a second pair of unidirectional tension rolls between which the wire passes after it leaves the measuring wheel. During the fabrication of strand one of the wires of the strand is measured by the measuring device and marked prior to fabrication into strand whereby the strand may be severed into predetermined accurate lengths after fabrication by cutting the strand at the marks on the wire.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a strand producing apparatus embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an elevation of the measuring device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an end elevation along 3-3 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 shows a layout for the fabrication of parallel wire strand. A plurality of swifts 1 1 and 13 are arranged to direct a series of wires 19 through a series of guides 23 and 25 to lay plates 27, 29, 31 and 32 which direct the wires to a series of roller compacting dies 33, 47, 49, 50 and 51 between which the resulting parallel wire strand 41 is wrapped at intervals with a suitable tape or other binding means to hold the wires of the parallel wire strand together. A suitable pulling device 53,=here shown as a catapuller type capstan, pulls the wires 19 from the swifts 11 and 13 through the lay plates 27, 29, 31 and 32 and compacting dies 33, 47, 49, 50 and 51 and passes the finished strand 4.1 along a roller conveyor 163 and through traverse 161 to reeling device 157 where it is reeled on a reel 1.59. One of the swifts 11 designated as 11a is displaced slightly to the side to allow the measuring device 61 of the present invention to be positioned along the path of the wire 19a from swift 11a to lay plate 27. Swifts 11 and 13 will include braking devices, not shown, designed to place a back tension of approximately 25 to 30 pounds on the wires 19.

Measuring device 61 shown in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3 comprises a base 63, comprising longitudinal members 64 and transverse members 66, upon which are mounted vertical support members 65 for a large measuring wheel 67 approximately 6 feet in diameter mounted on a shaft 69 rotatably journaled in bearings 71 mounted on support members 65. Braces 73 aid in rigidly tying support members 65 to base 63. Hinged members 75 pivoted on brackets 76 serve as adjustable mountings for pressure rolls 77 which are urged against the bottom of a flat boomed V-groove 79 in the periphery of measuring wheel 67 by the action of spring 78 and compression adjustment 80. A gear 81 is secured to shaft 69 and is operatively connected by a chain 83 to a small gear 85 attached to the shaft of a mechanical counter mechanism 87 mounted on a bracket 89.

A pair of tension rollers 91 and 93 are mounted on shafts 95 and 97 journaled in bearings 99 and 100 mounted on supporting structure 101 at the left end of base 63 as viewed in FIG. 2. Tension roller 93has a shallow groove 103 in the periphery. Bearings 99 are slidably mounted in slideways 105 mounted on supporting structure 101 so that roll 91 may be urged against the periphery of roll 93 by the action of springs 107 the compression of which may be adjusted by screws 109. Shaft 97 is connected by coupling 111 to the output shaft 1 13 of gear reducer 115 the input shaft 117 of which is connected by coupling 119 to the shaft of an eddy current motor 121 or other motor of a design which may remain stationary or be rotated ina reverse direction without damage.

On the right side of base 63 there is mounted a support assembly 123 with tension rolls 125 and 127 journaled therein in the same operative arrangement as is used to journal tension rolls 91 and 93 in supporting structure 101. Tension roll 125 is slidably mounted to bear against the shallow grooved periphery of tension roll 127 the shaft of which is provided with a one way clutch mechanism 131 of any suitable design such as a cam clutch or roller clutch which will operate to prevent rotation of roll 127 in a direction other than forward.

In operation of the measuring device a wire 19a is threaded through the rollers 141 of guide 139 from swift 11a and between tension rolls 91 and 93, across the face of zero index 133, about the periphery of measuring wheel 67 for one turn and then between the tension rollers 125 and 127 to a primary pulling apparatus such as catapuller 53 shown in FIG. 1. After the wire has been threaded between tension rolls 125 and 127 so that it cannot be pulled back due to the one way clutch mechanism 131, eddy current motor 121 is activated to place a constant rearward tension upon the wire of approximately 25 pounds or the like depending upon the wire characteristics.

A mark is placed on the wire adjacent to the zero index and the counter, which may preferably be a simple revolution counter, is set at zero and the degree mark adjacent to a given index point on the vemier index is noted. The measuring wheel will previously have been calibrated for the particular gage wire which is to be measured so that it is known how much wire is passed through the device by one revolution of the measuring wheel. The wires 19, including the wire 19a which is pulled against the back tension of eddy current motor 121, are then pulled through the apparatus until counter 87 indicates that the desired length of wire has passed the measuring wheel as determined by the required number of revolutions of the measuring wheel 67 plus the number of extra degrees and parts of degrees of revolution over the required number of complete revolutions read opposite the primary vemier mark on the wheel and on the vemier scale respectively-. Preferably the gear ratio between gear 81 and small gear 85 on the counter is sufficiently great so that one revolution of the measuring wheel 67 will result in a number of revolutions of the counter. The reading on the counter is checked by the vernier indicator. The actual length of wire passing around the measuring wheel during each revolution depends upon the gage of wire being measured as well as the circumference of the measuring wheel. The wheel may be conveniently calibrated by actually measuring a predetermined length of wire with the measuring apparatus. With careful calibration it has been possible to obtain consistent wire measurements with less than 1 inch of error in lengths of wire of over 4,000 feet-that is less than 0.002 percent error-with little difficulty.

When used to measure a wire strand the measuring apparatus 61 of the present invention is placed between the swift from which one of the wires is taken as shown in FIG. 1 and the wire compacting die 33. In a parallel wire strand having a regular geometrical section such as described in the above mentioned Durkee et a1. application the wire to be measured is preferably one of the outside corner wires of the geometrical section. The measured wire is pulled with all the remaining wires by the pulling device 53 through the various lay plates and the compacting dies 33, 47, 49, 50 and 51 and together with the other wires is bound at intervals either by hand or by suitable mechanical binding means between the various compacting dies as the strand is pulled forward. The strand is passed onto a reel 159 after passing through the pulling device 53. It will be understood that in some applications the reeling device 157 might itself constitute the primary pulling device.

Upon first starting the strand fabricating operation, after the various wires 19 are entered into all the various apparatus wire 19a is preferably painted with yellow quick drying paint in the area of the zero index 133. A thin pencil or other suitable mark is then made on the painted area at the zero reference point of the zero index 133 and any other desirable marks such as a mark to indicate the correct position of the end socket on parallel wire bridge strand may slo be made at this time. The counting device 87 is either set to zero or its reading is taken, and the exact position of the measuring wheel 67 with reference to the vernier index 137 is noted. The pulling device 53 is then operated to pull the various wires 19 through the apparatus until the reading on the counter mechanism 87 and the vemier index reading indicate that the desired predetermined amount of wire has been passed through the measuring device 61. The movement of the wire through the apparatus is then interrupted and a section of the wire adjacent the zero index is again painted and a mark made at the zero reference point, plus whatever other marks may be desired. The operation of the pulling device is then resumed and may be continued until the counter and the vemier index reading indicate that another predetermined amount of wire has passed through the measuring device 61 and another zero reference mark can be made. This operation is continued until the required number of lengths of strand are fabricated and marked. The strand may be severed into precise predetermined lengths by cutting through the entire strand with a suitable severing means such as an abrasive cutting wheel at the zero reference marks on wire 19a any time after the marked wire is incorporated into the finished strand either before reeling or after reeling and unreeling.

Obviously the measuring device could also be used to directly measure not only wire but other lineal material such as small twisted cable or rope. In the claims therefore the term wire is intended to encompass such structures.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for accurately measuring moving wire passing through said apparatus in a forward direction comprising:

a. a measuring wheel about the peripheral surface of which the wire passes in intimate frictional contact therewith at least once said wheel having a revolution counting mechanism associated therewith,

. a first contact roll tension assembly having at least two adjacent wire contacting rolls between which the wire passes in frictional contact therewith as it approaches said measuring wheel in a forward direction,

. means to continuously urge rotation of at least one of the rolls of the first contact roll assembly with a substantially constant force in a direction opposing passage of the wire,

. a second contact roll assembly having at least two adjacent wire contacting rolls between which the wire passes in frictional contact therewith after it passes around said measuring wheel in intimate contact therewith,

. means to prevent rotation of at least one of the rolls of said second contact roll assembly in a rearward direction while allowing free rotation of said 6 rolls in a forward direction to allow forward g. a vernier index in addition to and for use in passage of said wire, and cooperation with the counting index associated f. prime mover means positioned after the measuring i th measuring Wheel Of to determine Small wheel but not before the second contact roll asfractions Ofa revolution Ofthe measuring Wheel, sembly to advance said wire in a forward direction 5 said means of to g rotation of the rolls of around said measuring wheel and between said the first Contact assembly a dlrectlo" PP Contact rolls, ing passage of the wire in a forward direction con- 2. The apparatus for accurately measuring wire acsmutmg an eddy current momrcording to claim 1 additionally comprising: 10 

1. An apparatus for accurately measuring moving wire passing through said apparatus in a forward direction comprising: a. a measuring wheel about the peripheral surface of which the wire passes in intimate frictional contact therewith at least once said wheel having a revolution counting mechanism associated therewith, b. a first contact roll tension assembly having at least two adjacent wire contacting rolls between which the wire passes in frictional contact therewith as it approaches said measuring wheel in a forward direction, c. means to continuously urge rotation of at least one of the rolls of the first contact roll assembly with a substantially constant force in a direction opposing passage of the wire, d. a second contact roll assembly having at least two adjacent wire contacting rolls between which the wire passes in frictional contact therewith after it passes around said measuring wheel in intimate contact therewith, e. means to prevent rotation of at least one of the rolls of said second contact roll assembly in a rearward direction while allowing free rotation of said rolls in a forward direction to allow forward passage of said wire, and f. prime mover means positioned after the measuring wheel but not before the second contact roll assembly to advance said wire in a forward direction around said measuring wheel and between said contact rolls.
 1. An apparatus for accurately measuring moving wire passing through said apparatus in a forward direction comprising: a. a measuring wheel about the peripheral surface of which the wire passes in intimate frictional contact therewith at least once said wheel having a revolution counting mechanism associated therewith, b. a first contact roll tension assembly having at least two adjacent wire contacting rolls between which the wire passes in frictional contact therewith as it approaches said measuring wheel in a forward direction, c. means to continuously urge rotation of at least one of the rolls of the first contact roll assembly with a substantially constant force in a direction opposing passage of the wire, d. a second contact roll assembly having at least two adjacent wire contacting rolls between which the wire passes in frictional contact therewith after it passes around said measuring wheel in intimate contact therewith, e. means to prevent rotation of at least one of the rolls of said second contact roll assembly in a rearward direction while allowing free rotation of said rolls in a forward direction to allow forward passage of said wire, and f. prime mover means positioned after the measuring wheel but not before the second contact roll assembly to advance said wire in a forward direction around said measuring wheel and between said contact rolls. 